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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26931928">Whumptober 2020 10 Trail of Blood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankie_mcstein/pseuds/frankie_mcstein'>frankie_mcstein</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Magnum whump, Non-Consensual Drug Use, The Lads save the day, Whumptober 2020, drug induced flashback, poor Tommy, they're puppies really</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:49:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,873</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26931928</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankie_mcstein/pseuds/frankie_mcstein</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whumptober 2020 prompt 10- Trail of Blood</p>
<p>Must find Fast Stick. Fast Stick needs Mistress. And the two dogs followed the blood drops into the forest.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947172</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Whumptober 2020 10 Trail of Blood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The Lads do not want to kill or eat Magnum. Given that the fastest man on record can't outrun a Doberman, it's pretty obvious there is no real Magnum-cidal feelings there. So here, have The Lads saving their favourite toy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everything was spinning and blurring. And the voices in his ear kept on whispering and shouting. Threats and recriminations and accusations. He needed to get away. Or defend himself. Or maybe he needed to hide? He didn’t know anymore. His heart was racing and his body was shaking and his head was pounding and his chest was straining. Was he dying? Is that what this was?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>… </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sniff. Sniff sniff. Where was it? They both kept their noses to the ground. It had been here a few steps back. Where did it go?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Fast Stick was here. Mistress wants Fast Stick back. Where is Fast Stick scent?</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Their paws had smudged the small droplets of blood they had been following, the bitter coppery smell hanging around them, but neither Zeus or Apollo was confused. They knew they were looking for the scent on the floor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Mistress is calling for Fast Stick. Where is Fast Stick?</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They hadn’t seen him all morning, not even to growl at. And it seemed as though none of the two legs had seen him either. And now Mistress was getting upset because Fast Stick had disappeared, so, because they were Good Dogs, obviously they had to find him. If only to make sure all the two legs knew that they weren’t the ones who had damaged Fast Stick in the first place.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Maybe the lads finally got him,” they had heard while they were hanging their heads in the face of Mistress’s misery. They had both pricked up their ears and looked at each other.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>No breaking Fast Stick. Mistress says she can’t replace Fast Stick.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They had run out, knowing if they found Fast Stick it would make Mistress happy and prove to the other two legs that they were good boys, just like Mistress kept telling them all. And then they had smelt the wrong and followed the tiny blood trail off towards the tree line. It was the same smell that had hung around Mistress and Fast Stick at times. Mistress was always moving too slowly to go running with them and telling them not to play with Fast Stick when that smell was in the air.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Wrong smell! Here! Fast Stick!</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And they were off again, following the scent of the blood deeper into the trees. It got stronger the further they went and that meant they could move faster. It wasn’t nice, the smell clinging to their noses and the dead twigs poking at the pads of their feet. But Mistress wanted Fast Stick back and they could help. So they kept running, sneezing occasionally as something dry crumbled and went up their noses.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Higgins had called Rick and T.C. as soon as she'd gotten off the phone with Katsumoto.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"It's Thomas," she'd said, sounding tense. "I think he's been kidnapped."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They'd arrived before Katsumoto and were watching security footage over Higgins' shoulder when the detective walked in. It wasn't encouraging. Magnum had arrived at the estate looking shaky, apparently talking to himself, and waving his arms like he was trying to fend someone off. He headed towards the guest house then suddenly turned and screamed something, his face turning red as he yelled at someone or something that wasn’t actually there, and then took off running towards the tree line. They watched as long as they could, wincing as he fell, landing hard and staggering back to his feet. But then he left the view of the cameras and left the four of them staring helplessly at the laptop screen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What the hell was that?” T.C. couldn’t hide the fear in his voice; he had seen a friend of his kill an MP while caught in the grip of a brutal flashback, and he couldn’t see any difference between the way Adam had acted then and the way Thomas had been acting on the video.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>More wrong smell! Here! Here!</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The two of them ran, stretching their legs out and darting between the trees, their noses full of the scent of blood and human. They were getting close to Fast Stick, stubby tails wagging in excitement. They would lead him home, back to Mistress, and then she would give them treats and call them good boys.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Fast Stick! Here!</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And there he was, curled up in a ball, sweating and shaking, odd noises coming from him. The dogs slowed, recognising something was very wrong with Fast Stick but unable to work out what. They sniffed carefully, instincts telling them to be careful. He smelled wrong. Not the same wrong smell they had used to track him, a different kind of wrong. Something bitter and rotten.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zeus growled quietly, not liking the smell, but Apollo edged closer, slowly and cautiously.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Fast Stick needs Mistress. Take Fast Stick to Mistress.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zeus gave a small bark of agreement, and then they both froze as Fast Stick’s head snapped up. They both kept their eyes lowered slightly. Now was not the time to try to intimidate Fast Stick. As one trembling hand stretched out towards him, Apollo gave a tiny whimper and Zeus moved to his side. But they both dropped their heads.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The gentle scratch behind his ears surprised Apollo, and he sneezed his surprise. The scratching stopped, but the hand rested between his ears. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good boys,” came a quiet voice, nothing like the voice they were used to hearing from Fast Stick.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Must get home. Must get Fast Stick to Mistress.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They both backed up a few steps, leaving Fast Stick's hand hanging in midair for a second before it dropped. He watched them as they took a few more steps away, then, as they stopped and looked back at him, he finally seemed to figure out what they wanted. He clambered slowly to his feet, staggering a little and leaning heavily against a tree.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They ran a few steps and then stopped, realising Fast Stick was too wrong to keep up with them. They both huffed heavily, anxious to get Fast Stick back to Mistress. But they walked back, setting themselves one each side of him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You guys know where we’re going?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If they could have rolled their eyes, they would have.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rick’s slightly desperate quip about the dogs finally getting hold of Magnum had fallen flat, not that he had expected otherwise. Higgins’ worry over Magnum had only increased when she’d realised the lads had vanished too. Katsumoto had told them that running off into the forest with no idea of where Magnum might be was a borderline suicidal idea, which hadn’t really been news to any of them, but none of them had wanted to hear it. The detective had walked away a few steps to start arranging for a search and rescue response.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He must have left tracks. I mean, he was obviously…” Higgins trailed off, not wanting to say ‘disturbed’ but not knowing how better to describe her partner’s behaviour.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I hate to say this, but I think Katsumoto’s right. We need more people if we’re gonna stand a chance of finding him out there.” Rick didn’t sound like he agreed with his own words.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And what happens then? If some stranger finds him and he’s still…” It was T.C.’s turn to trail off, feeling irrationally like, if he said anything about PTSD or flashbacks out loud, it would somehow make things worse for Thomas.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We just need to wait for the search team to show up. Maybe we can split into four teams and one of us go with each of them?” Higgins didn’t sound too hopeful, like she was doubting her ability to pull Magnum back from wherever his mind had taken him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The two men each put a hand on her shoulder; they were frantic over their missing brother, but they weren’t about to let their sister down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A bark had all four of them turning to face the door, staring in shock at the sight that met them. Magnum, shirt torn and blood trickling down his face, visibly shaking, was being led slowly over to the house by Zeus and Apollo. They stared in shock for a moment before hurrying out to meet the odd trio, only to freeze as Zeus barked at them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Higgins took a slow step forwards, leaving the men behind her, and held out her hands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good lads,” she said quietly, her voice softer than any of them had ever heard before. “Well done, lads.” And the two dogs dropped to their haunches, looking far more smug than any canine face should have been capable of looking.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Between them, Magnum was swaying slightly and staring with glazed eyes at Higgins.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Are you… Are you…” But he couldn’t finish the thought. His eyes rolled back, and the dogs leapt away from him with startled barks as the humans leapt forwards to try to catch Magnum before he crashed to the ground.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Drugged? How did I end up drugged?” Magnum sounded offended, and his friends actually smiled a little at his tone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“HPD has the security footage from along your route to and from Akela’s house but they’re more worried that it might be product tampering than they are about the idea of someone targeting you specifically.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>No one had been too happy about that, and everyone thought it was a ridiculous overreaction to what was more likely an angry cheating spouse. But, with an election looming, the governor’s spin doctor had seized on the publicity the fear would generate.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Higgins had quietly waited for HPD to collect the relevant footage and then helped herself to a copy of it all, not trusting the politics to allow anyone official to do any real work on the case. Now that Magnum was awake, she was looking forward to getting the chance to dig into the videos.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The man in question grinned at her, reading her mind. “You can go,” he told her, “I really do feel fine. I’m hoping my doctor is planning on letting me out today.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the footage wasn’t going anywhere, and his strange behaviour and disappearance had scared her more than she was willing to admit, as had the two days of unconsciousness that had followed him collapsing. “In that case, there’s no point in my rushing off when I can drive you back to the Nest,” came the reply, and Magnum couldn’t argue with her logic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rick and T.C. just grinned at each other; they’d known there was no chance of her leaving until either Magnum had been discharged or she got physically thrown out. They were both looking forward to getting to leave the hospital room, and not just because it would mean Thomas was actually okay and instead of just saying that he was okay. They were eager to see his reaction when he realised that, far from being overly protective of him like they had been when he was under the influence of the drugs, the dogs had been prowling about the guest house and growling just that morning, like they had somehow known he was on the verge of being sent home and were only too eager to get back to the business of trying to kill him at every opportunity.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yeah, so they wanna growl and bark and chase him. It's just coz he has long legs and can run really fast. As far as they're concerned he's a self propelled toy that sometimes aggravates their beloved Mistress.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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